Pablo Heras-Casado Extends Contract with Orchestra of St. Luke's Through 2017

Approaching its 40th anniversary season, Orchestra of St. Luke's (OSL) is thrilled to announce its continued relationship with Principal Conductor Pablo Heras-Casado, formalized in a two-year contract extension signed last week. Heras-Casado, who was appointed to a four-year term as OSL's principal conductor in 2011, will remain in that post through September 2017.

In each of the next three seasons, Heras-Casado will lead two concerts on OSL's Carnegie Hall Orchestra Series. In 2014/2015, these include a November 6, 2014 program of Purcell, Tchaikovsky, Dallapiccola, and Mendelssohn; and an April 23, 2015 program of Stravinsky, Shostakovich, and Beethoven, featuring cellist Alisa Weilerstein. Heras-Casado will continue to conduct OSL at its summer home, Caramoor Music Festival-this summer leading the FestivalFinale concert on August 3, 2014, which also features Weilerstein. This concert will be broadcast live on classical radio station WQXR.

OSL plans to release its first album with Heras-Casado during his continued tenure. The album-to be recorded at The DiMenna Center for Classical Music, the rehearsal and recording facility that OSL owns and operates-will include Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 1, "Winter Dreams" and The Tempest. It will be on the harmonia mundi label, which released two widely acclaimed albums by Heras-Casado in the past year: Schubert's Symphonies Nos. 3 and 4 with the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra in fall 2013, followed by Mendelssohn's Symphony No. 2 with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra in spring 2014. Appearing on more than 90 recordings in total, OSL's most recent release features the Schoenberg chamber arrangement of Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde on its own label, St. Luke's Collection. OSL's musicians look forward to working with Heras-Casado on this new orchestral recording project featuring two of Tchaikovsky's earliest notable works, both of which are wonderfully vibrant and dramatic.